Parenting Fail 876

Sample: creation on a (sparsely used) art tool organizer

As a parents we often buy things that we think will fuel Animal's imagination and foster his creativity. We stroll down the craft aisles and craft stores on many a Saturday while running errands.

Big Paper, little paper, white, colored, thin, thick, all kinds of paper. Glue, markers, crayons, erasers,  scissors, paintbrushes, water colors, acrylic paint. Googly eyes, stickers, rulers, pens, pencil sharpeners, organizers, art portfolios, sketch pads, canvas, scotch tape, masking tape, brads, and paper clips. That's a short list of the types of things we purchase. 

He draws. A lot. He illustrates and writes books, comics and flip-o-ramas. He cuts up boxes from Amazon and builds tracks, houses, hide outs, stores, cars, the list is as endless as his imagination. These creations fill up our walls, our floors and his bedroom. We store some, we recycle some, we throw some away. I LOVE his art. I love his creativity and tenacity. I hate throwing it away because I'm a pack rat and I'm a sentimental sucker.

So why? Why did I buy a whole bucket of pipe cleaners?

The Mr. looked at me quizzically when I picked up the bucket and asked Animal what he thought one morning at a craft store. I said, "He makes some really cool stuff with these." My husband, an artist, said, ok. Animal was excited and so was I (at the thought of escaping Micheal's 5 bucks and taxes only).

The bucket, with a few things I have found.

Here we are, a month out. He's made some cool shit. Including a King Ghidorah (Godzilla's Nemesis), and other cool creations, and many, many pieces of "art" that I find under beds, behind electronics, in toy bins, and in many random spots (as pictured at the top of this post).

So parenting fail 876: buying what would soon become precious, untouchable garbage that has served it's purpose, but I have to have the heart to throw out, because it's trash now.